Monthly Archives: October 2009

Monarchy is nothing but one great song. Like so many bands are choosing to do these days, they’ve chosen to take the ‘mysterious’ route. In some ways I find this a bit off-putting, like they’re purposely trying to manipulate the internet hype factory, but I also really dig the idea of just letting the music alone speak for the group.

In this case Monarchy has decided to introduce themselves to the world via “Gold In The Fire”, a slow building Golden Filter-sounding dreamwave jam. Featuring stellar vocals and a guitar lick that takes the song to a new level, Gold In The Fire is probably my favorite song at the moment.

I’m always a sucker for songs that take a groove, and work it into a long, slow build. Gold In The Fire starts with a short soft synth pattern and a swelling choral line. As the song goes along, you cant help but feel like you’re inside the burning fire.

The fire builds and builds until it envelops you.

Its like times when the sun is so bright and strong you can feel it through your body. You’re just ready to melt into it.

“Gold in the fire is you”

Like the times you dive into the water and you’re completely surrounded. You dive deeper and the pressure builds and builds.

Anytime a song can conjure these types of feelings, you know you’re on the right track.

Head over to their myspace to check out what else they have to offer (which as discussed is nothing).

We covered Mirrors before, when we stumbled onto their first song, Look At Me. We loved the song so much we included it in our Dreamwave Hour 2 Mix, and in my mind it’s still one of my highlights of 2009. Today we’ve got a new track from them, entitled ‘Organ Song’. It goes even deeper into their dark, new-wave sounds. Even though I don’t like the track as much as ‘Look At Me’, its still a fantastic track.

Ok, before the song, a couple housekeeping notes. The release of LA Lights has obviously drawn heavily on our time and resources, so our posting has been slacking heavily. Our desire to find great new music is as strong as ever. I have a playlist set up for songs that I think are worthy and fit the Binary Blogs style, and right now its 25 songs deep. Basically what that means is that the break is over, and its time to unleash a ton of great dreamwave music on you over the next couple months. Check back often. I plan on having a new post up everyday (I’m going to make the posts a little less time consuming to put together to insure this).

As you might expect, organs rip through the night into your speakers. Mirrors‘ vocalist channels back into the dark, foggy, back alleys of London to a place that I’m not sure I want to go. Its dark and makes me think of the best and worst parts about late nights and bad decisions.

While I’m listening to this song I can’t help but feel like I’m about to be strangled by my emotions. It chokes me up and it almost makes me angry.

“There’s darkness in these eyes”

As the organs churn away, he sings about having nowhere to run. I know how that feels. Smokey streetlight lit pathways, girls that you shouldn’t run after but you just can’t help it.

The final drop.. “These people want, what these people can not see.” Yup, thats about right. The guitars cutting through the darkness, towards a light. Thats the hope in dreamwave right there. A dark song made triumphant.

“Right through the night”.

There’s always a morning after the night.

Beautiful.

Mirrors has released Look At Me as their first single, which you can pick up by heading over to their myspace. Great stuff, you should absolutely go get it.

We’ll be back with more content on LA Lights next week, as well as a lot of really great songs we’ve been coming across. Watch out, we’re back in force.

We’re back today to round out the remixes for LexiconDon‘s single off of LA Lights, Heart Attack. Three really great remixes for you today. One from Binary find 99, who’s been ripping apart our speakers for a while now. Another from The Kids Are Radioactive, Binary member and overall badass. And a last from Digeraatii, who we got to know well while they stayed in LA for what seemed like months.

Barren wasteland of LA. The sun obscured by miles of ash and fire above. Palm trees reach for the sun that showed itself for the last time months ago. Just a dull glow lighting your way.

‘BACK.back..BACK… Before the sun’

Hand in hand with her. Running away, searching for shelter, for food, for water. This song is the soundtrack to those days and nights. Nights spent in abandoned alleys, and days spent working towards the ocean. Its all over. But still there is her. And that makes it ok, until THEY come. When 99 shows up.

Digeraatii rolls through with their signature, friendly to the ears sound for their take on the track. Echoes of blog house hits in the air as their sidechained bass pulses along. I really love the new bass melody they bring in for the song, and on the whole its a nice twist on the original.

LA Lights has now been out for a bit over a week. If you’re interested in checking out more of it, you can head right on over to our website!

Its been a busy couple of weeks for us here at Binary. LA Lights came out last Tuesday, and we had our record release party at The Echoplex. Saw a lot of familiar faces, and a whole bunch of unfamiliar ones. Fans of dreamwave came out and we had a big ole celebration of great music. The guys all killed it and realistically its taken a week to recover!

In any case, we’re back, and today is a day that I get to post something I’ve been excited about for a long time. We have the third single from LA Lights, the NightWaves‘ song ‘Fascination’. Kyle and I are NightWaves’ so I’m not one to go and elaborate how awesome our own track is, but I can say that on the whole, we really see this song as a maturation and a growth as a group. It’s our favorite to date, and hopefully a taste of whats to come in the future.

The reason I’m so excited to write this post today is because of the remix posted below by Junkie XL. Tom is a legend and we are extremely lucky to have gotten the chance to work with him at all. Surprisingly (or I suppose not surprisingly) he is a fan of dreamwave and is closely following the movement. We’re honored to have gotten such a great remix from him. Believe me, hearing it for the first time was an indescribable thrill.

The original. This song really encapsulates a lot of what we love about dreamwave. Its thick and full of emotion. It feels like you’re slowly drowning, and feels like youre flying all in one. NightWaves is all about trying to make you feel things you haven’t felt in a while. This song is trying to bring the sort of desperate emotions back that you felt when you were 16, just dying to be with someone.

Here’s the aforementioned Junkie XL remix. We often describe dreamwave as ‘child-like’ and somehow Junkie was able to take that idea and litterally translate that into a dark, and yet childish soundscape. The opening bells ring out and feel like a wintery walk through the woods. Its innocent, obvious and brings you slowly into the track. Once the guitar lick comes in though, you know that you’re in for a treat. The song morphs into a dreamy, pulsing twist on the original. Gone is the suffocating thickness that the original embraces, leaving a soaring, airy, anthem in its place.

The chorus is what gets me the most. Junkie is able take the multiple harmonies and layered vocals and push them up into the sky. I can’t help but feel like all of the wishing and desire that’s present in the original is wiped away here. Somehow the remix has embraced the moment that you wish for so much in the original.

Last up we have Bit Funk’s take on the track. We posted about Bit Funk WAYYYYY back in the day with his song ‘Love Scientific’. It felt quite appropriate to go back to him for a remix for this song. He did EXACTLY what we’d hope for from him. We approached so many dreamwave producers for remixes, that we were left without many songs that would really work on a dancefloor. What Bit Funk delivers here is a tight, bouncey remix that could work in almost any kind of set. He keeps the production beautifully sparse, leaving room for his drums to really punch this song in the face. Really enjoyed this mix here.

Check out the lead synth (sounds like its talkboxed) that comes out of the end of the chorus. Soaring and so triumphant! We love it!

Hope you guys do too!

Now don’t forget, we keep giving you guys all this stuff for free. There are still 10 more amazing tracks from Binary artists on LA Lights. You can check out where you can buy the tracks by going right here!

Today, October 13th, 2009, Binary Records was born. LA Lights was released digitally in pretty much every online store in the world. At that moment it started raining for the first time in about a year here in LA. Somehow this felt fitting. Like the grime and filth were being cleansed from the city. We love the sun and clean, happy, sounds… gotta wash the dirt off first.

You can pick the record up anywhere, just check this friendly player right above this post, or you can head to Binary’s new webpage, which has plenty of links on it.

Now, to continue our coverage of the singles off LA Lights, here are the final 3 remixes of Ari-es. To start is the absolute masterpiece that Hemingway turned in. Its already gained enough praise that Aleks over at Discodust felt the need to amend his post to include it.

We’ve talked about yacht-funk before, and man does this track channel the whole idea. Hemingway slows the tracks down to drugged out summertime humid levels, and starts with stabs and a funky as all hell bass groove.

The Keenhouse vocals mesh in perfectly and what we’re left with is an improved version of something Classixx might have produced. Amazing, amazing job here.

Binary’s own, NightWaves, twist the track into the deeper realm. Layered synths and punchy guitar riff keep the track moving along, capped by a soaring chorus. The track was right in their wheelhouse and they take it straight to their signature dreamwave sound.

Lastly, Quinten 909 goes straight french filter house with the track. A booming bassline and repeating synth chords keep it simple and oh so sweet. The track is super sexy, with its swells and pulsing chord progression.

Last thing here, don’t forget to come to The Echoplex tonight for an amazing celebration for our release. We have some truly historic performances planned that you will not want to miss!

Check out the facebook event, and rsvp to rsvp(at)binaryentertainmentgroup.com

See all of you tonight! And as usual, come find me (Josh) and Ill be glad to buy you a drink and stop for a chat!

Yesterday we released the first single from our upcoming record “Binary Presents: LA Lights” on the Binary blog with Keenhouse’s “Ari-es”, along with the remixes from Grum and Flashmen. Those tracks saw their debut on Discodust earlier in the week, so don’t forget to check them out there as well. So now we move on to the next single that we’ll be giving to you guys from the record…Heart Attack!

LexiconDon is the duo of Alex Koons and Fabian Ordorica, true brothers of rhythm that have been vibing off each other for quite some time now. These guys have been with us here at Binary from the beginning, and it’s fair to say that we’ve all grown a lot together. Above everything else that we love about Binary, it’s the friendships that have grown from this bond of music that we all share. I remember the days hanging out with Alex and Fabian at Hollywood Sound, a studio in the heart of the glitz and grime of Hollywood, getting crazy at the occasional party, watching drunk girls cycle in and out of Big Wang’s across the street and moving from one smokey room to the next and being inundated by the sounds of a good time. They were just strangers then…friends of a mutual friend…but I’m happy and proud to say that we’re now all brothers in this musical journey we’re all on together.

When Alex delivered “Heart Attack” to us, we didn’t know what to expect. That’s because you never know what to expect from Alex. You don’t know if you’re going to be getting “Hollywood Sound” or “Set Sail” (wait for this track in the future…you’ll know what I mean). That’s because Alex can be so many things in so many ways. You’ve often heard us talk about Binary’s mission of infusing raw human emotions into music…Alex does this with force. He’s a guerrilla poet, always pouring every ounce of himself into a song…he can be abrasive, and he can be charming. He can be goofy funny and he can be intellectually sarcastic. Whatever he is, it’s charisma…and it never shows more than it does with this song.

It’s such a fitting title and subject for the song, considering it really does sound like a heart attack. In typical Fabian fashion, the drums pump heavy with a thumping air. There are electro glitches and fidgets as you start to realize your heart is tweaking out, sweat is trickling down your forehead and your adrenaline is starting to juice up your body. A psychotic fear sets in and builds until it can’t be suppressed anymore. Then it explodes. The chorus unleashes a fury of energy as you go berserk. And finally after the last chorus you’re moving at a thousand miles an hour as the sirens surround you with no chance of stopping you.

When LexiconDon plays live, nothing sets off the energy in the room like this song. Alex suddenly kicks it up to another level. Like a wildfire that starts with a tiny spark and soon rages into a wind-swept unstoppable inferno, the room is ignited. For those of you in LA, you won’t want to miss this moment on Tuesday when the guys play live at the Binary Presents: LA Lights record release party at the Echoplex. If you haven’t seen LexiconDon live before, now is your chance.

Check out the facebook event, and rsvp to rsvp(at)binaryentertainmentgroup.com

Ok, so when we were getting our favorite producers on board to remix these singles one of the first guys we went to was Diamond Cut. It’s crazy, just yesterday I was looking at an email we had sent to Diamond Cut 15 months ago, telling him about Binary and about what we were “loosely calling ‘dreamwave'”. Haha! This was so early on in the game, and before much of Binary became what it is today. Well that just goes to show our faith in his skills as a producer and the emotionalism he can bring to a track. As you’ve probably heard in a lot of his productions he has a knack for big sounds, driving sounds, inspirational and epic sounds. That’s why we knew he could match the intensity of “Heart Attack” in his own dreamwave style. When I hear those icy dream swells that periodically punctuate the song I can’t help but think about driving in a car down a deserted desert highway with streetlight after streetlight passing by, marking the only thing that is keeping you from being insignificant in an eternity of empty space. The song truly is a journey of yearning that just doesn’t stop. “I want it back”…”I gotta have it”. It’s such a great compliment to the original, we’re very happy with this pair of tracks.

And finally we’ve got the Clockwork remix of Heart Attack. For those of you that don’t know, Clockwork is a young dude from here in LA, on his way to Boston. Interestingly enough, he is another producer that we’ve watched from very early on. It’s been great watching him progress and we’ve loved many of the remixes he’s done to date. Check out his resume on hypem [http://hypem.com/#/search/clockwork/1/]. Everyone is really really happy with the remix he turned in for Heart Attack. It’s a fantastic club banger and delivers a chorus that I guarantee will get your blood flowing. I think everyone’s favorite part is the buildup that takes place through the third minute and builds and builds, and then right when you think its gonna break, Clockwork throws you for a loop with the lone beeping of an EKG heart monitor…beep beep beep BEEEEP…BOOM. Sickness, for sure.

Keep reading in the coming days for more remixes of Ari-es and Heart Attack, and then next week for singles #3 and #4. And again, don’t miss out on our release party this coming Tuesday. If you can make it, you should. We want to celebrate with all of you guys and spend a free evening together listening to some great music and looking forward to all the great things that the future hold for Binary, for music in LA, and for the dreamwave movement.

Tuesday, October 6th marked the debut of the first two singles from our first record, Binary Presents: LA Lights. LexiconDon’s song Heart Attack exploded onto the web at Nightmagnets, and Aleks over at Discodust gave us some very kind words about Keenhouse’s single Ari-es. Simply put, we’ve poured our heart and soul into this record. Its been a full year in the making and we did not want to take any short cuts. We’ve got 2 more debut singles coming next Tuesday, so keep your eye out on the blogosphere for those as well. Of course next Tuesday also is the release date for the record, so mark it on your calendars!

We truly believe in this music (dreamwave and melodic dance music in general) and we really wanted to give the people of Los Angeles, and around the world, some artists to champion. Hopefully this record is the first step in that direction. I know everyone in the Binary family is super proud of LA Lights, and the initial response has been amazing. I gotta say though, this is just the beginning. The tracks for this record were all done 4-6 months ago. The stuff that we’re hearing now is even better.

Anyway, over the next couple of weeks we’re going to try and highlight the singles (there are 4 of them for free!), and all of the amazing remixes that we’ve gotten for this release. Tell me this list of remixers doesn’t get you excited.

And remixes from Binary’s own… Keenhouse, Short Circuit, The Kids Are Radioactive, and NightWaves.

That’s a hell of a lot of stuff.

So we’re gunna break all this amazing stuff into 8 posts that will go up over the next couple of weeks. The remixes are from the best and brightest in our genre and its enough to keep you warm through the winter.

OK, so to kick off these posts, here’s Keenhouse’s single Ari-es. I remember hearing this song for the first time in a basement in chinatown. In fact I actually have video of that somewhere. Anyway I remember getting the chills and just praying that it was his new song for the compilation we had started talking about. It was. Its our favorite Keenhouse song ever. Its everything thats good and right about dreamwave.

Ken’s stuff, especially on Civic Transit is at times playful, almost childish. Certainly that’s the case by design, but at times it leaves something to be desired, particularly the presence of real, dark, human emotion. Sometimes I listen to Ari-es and I can’t help but picture those darkest moments in life, when theres nothing but the ticking of the clock and the ceiling staring back at you. Of course, what makes dreamwave music so great is that the sounds and feelings of hope wash over you all the while. Even in your darkest moments, there is always hope, always a brighter tomorrow. This song puts that dichotomy right at the forefront, and it leads to nothing less than a great song.

First remix here is from Grum. Oh how we’ve loved Grum since his remix of Anoraak last year. He’s broken on to the scene in an absolute major way and is a pretty big deal at this point. We feel pretty honored that not only did he agree to do a remix for us, but he took his time and really turned it into a dancefloor dreamwave KILLER. Its really fantastic stuff. The key change in the chorus is both ballsy and successful. It takes the song up into the stratosphere. Watch out Ibiza dancefloors!

Second remix is from Binary old friends Flashmen. We’ve known these guys since we got seriously drunk at SXSW during our epic run of Lose Control parties. Great guys, great sounds, and a complete love of dreamwave. They take Ari-es and turn it into something that Tangerine Dream might think the future sounds like.

Big thanks to everyone who’s already wrote about the record. We feel like everyone out here in the blog world is family, and we’re just trying to get this music that we love out to as many ears as possible! Thanks to everyone!

Lastly, if you’re in LA. Come to the Echoplex on Tuesday night! We’re throwing a huge record release party for LA Lights. Keenhouse, LexiconDon, and Short Circuit are playing revamped super live sets that should blow you away. The Kids Are Radioactive and Alfa are filling in the gaps with DJ sets that will serenade your ears with sounds from LA Lights. We really feel like its going to be a landmark moment for dreamwave music and this scene we’re building in LA. Seems like the entire West Coast dreamwave movement is converging on LA for the show. We couldn’t be more excited.

Check out the facebook event, and rsvp to rsvp(at)binaryentertainmentgroup.com

‘Everybody want to be a millionaire’… Many a song have been written about the struggle to balance art and success. The great track we have for you today deals with just that. The annoyance with everyone pushing for money and ignoring what’s important. I tend to love songs like this. Pretty much any time an artist writes about feeling alienated from the world I think its a good thing.

Anyway, Sidwho?, from Australia wrote a great song here. Its VERY live sounding, but clearly comes from an electronic production background. Its pretty much exactly what we’re all about here at Binary. Take note of how much the live bass drives this track.

Icy synth lines decorate a dark palate laid down by the aforementioned live bass. Heavily reverbed vocals round out the mix, giving the whole track a distant, melancholy, sad vibe. It sets the tone perfectly for the lyrical content. The song itself seems to be about feeling misunderstood, and not knowing how he should feel about success or money.

On one hand there’s the feeling that money grubbing normal people are to be despised. And on the other… well EVERYBODY wants to be a millionaire, and that includes him. Who doesn’t want to live the lavish lifestyle?

Either way this track is full of contradiction, emotion, and loneliness. Its pretty much everything I look for in a song. Its been on repeat in my car this week, and I’m excited to hear more from this guy in the future. Go Sidwho?!

Lots of stuff going on in the Binary Universe. The last few months have seen the release of two records from Binary artists, a collaboration with French Label Valerie, and a Japanese physical release for Keenhouse. The fall is on its way and with it the launch of Binary Records with our first release, Binary Presents: LA Lights.

Binary To Release Debut Record – Binary Presents: LA Lights on October 13th

We couldn’t be more proud to announce the release of our first record, Binary Presents: LA Lights on October 13th. The culmination of the last year of building our roster and crafting songs, this record encapsulates everything Binary, from the budding dreamwave scene in Los Angeles, to the gritty underbelly of the youth in Southern California. Featuring songs from each of our 7 artists, LA Lights’ will be available digitally worldwide through Believe Digital (FRA).

To support the record, we’ve enlisted our favorite producers to remix the singles that we’ll be releasing. We are quite excited for remixes from Junkie XL, Grum, Russ Chimes, Diamond Cut, and many of our favorite up-and-coming producers. Watch for the singles and the remixes, which will be released in the first week of October.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to announce we’re working with InkTank PR on this record. They’ve been great so far, and share the common goal to get this music out to as many people as possible.

NightWaves debut single ‘She’s Electric’ now out on People In The Sky (UK)

People In The Sky, the label behind the early careers of UK bands Friendly Fires and Plugs, have added NightWaves to their roster and released their first single ‘She’s Electric’ worldwide to digital outlets. The single, released on September 7th, features remixes from Spacelex, House of Nada, and dreamwave comrade Vega.

A featured release on iTunes US and Juno, as of 9/17, She’s Electric was at #57 and climbing on the Beatport ‘Indie/Dance’ chart. Also as of 9/17 its the 25th best selling disco album on amazon.com. (Click links to purchase)

System Recordings Releases Alfa – LA Passion EP

On August 25th, NY label System Recordings released Alfa‘s debut EP, LA Passion. Featuring remixes from Baroque and Future Flashes, LA Passion is Alfa’s aim at describing a life in LA filled with neon lights, sunny days, and grimy downtown alleys.

Binary was featured in the fall issue of UK Magazine Fashion.Music.Style. Binary did a ‘postcard from LA’ spread, and to supplement the piece, NightWaves‘ song ‘Even Money’ was featured on their complimentary Unsigned Talent CD.

Keenhouse ‘Deep in the Forest’ included in dreamwave compilation from French collective Valerie.

Valerie‘s compilation, entitled ‘Valerie and Friends’ was released in late May. Featuring songs from its five members, as well as songs from their favorite artists worldwide, including Keenhouse; Valerie And Friends wraps together a package of future disco sounds.

To support Keenhouse‘s 2008 release, Civic Transit, we’ve decided to release a second single, the title track from the album. We enlisted the help of standout Valerie artist Anoraak, as well as Binary artist Fabian for remixes. Various blogs (BigStereo, Too Many Sebastians), took quite the liking to the tracks and album, and we’d like to share with you guys the two great remixes for the track.

Both of these remixes, as well as remixes from Short Circuit and Alfa, have also been featured on a special bonus disc, released digitally and physically in Japan by Thistime Records.

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We’d like to thank everyone that’s become a part of the growing Binary Family. The last year has been an uphill battle, but we’re quite proud to have assembled a roster of acts that we truly love. We believe our future looks bright, and we owe a lot to those that believed in us and stuck by us in the early going. Thank you!